During any working day we come across many products which one uses while painting and decorating, here are some which we like to use and recommend them to you.

Irish Made Paint. Colortrend.

Colortrend Paint is an irish made product in Co Kildare. Colortrend; now with their new spelling “Colourtrend”produces very high quality paints, they have over 50 interior colours to choose from in several ranges. There exterior range has superb colours which are designed for the Irish landscape, country or rural settings, and have been developed to handle theIrish weather. These paints will protect your home for years to come. Colourtrend were also one of the first paint companies to really perfect water based paints and primers for woodwork. A great example of these are Colourtrend’s new water based undercoats and eggshell paints, like other superior paints, they may cost more but when you paint with them you can feel and see where your money has gone; A top quality finish. Another fairly new Colourtrend product is their Ceramic emulsion paint range for walls, again we see an example of superior paint quality both in coverage and ease of application. Whether Interior water based or exterior water based paints, Colortrend have it covered. They are low odour, fast drying and easy to apply, providing a tough finish for wood interior or exterior. So Buy Irish.

Ronseal High performance wood filler. This is an amazing product featured in our blog on Georgian bay window restoration. IT can be used to fill any wood and comes in various colours. It can also be stained, drilled. planed, and sawed if necessary. One can use Ronseal high performance filler to fill any hole of any depth, it being an epoxy filler will be dry in just 30 minutes. It sands to a smooth finish and can also be used to flush fill imperfections from wooden surfaces, as can be seen in our blog restoring window and shutters in a period home. It is also very useful for rebuilding rotten timber in doors or windows, in conjunction with the next Ronseal product another favourite.

Ronseal Wet Rot Hardener. Yet another great product form Ronseal. We use this in situations where the wood in question is not being replaced but rather repaired. Again featured in our blog on restoring sash windows. How dose one use wet rot hardener? One removes as much wet damp wood as possible, and then injects Ronseal wet rot hardener into the wood, penetrating entire effected area. After about two hours wood that was soft and damp is hard and ready to be primed and filled.

Tout Pret wall Filler. The best filler for filling cracks in plaster. By the name you would be right in guessing this is a french product owned by a french family, this product is made in five countries and distributed all over the world. It is no wonder why? We have used many fillers for walls and this is the best. It will not flash (no need to prime) or sink, easy to sand, no limit on the thickness of the hole to be filled. It will not sag, it finishes almost white and is dry in 30 minutes max. It makes our job so much easier having a very good filler for walls and ceilings.

Dulux Paints. Dulux are another paint company that produces a very high quality product, both in there Dulux emulsion paints and their Dulux oil based paints.

But the product for todays blog is Dulux Trade Eggshell. A very hard wearing low sheen paint that can stand up to repeated washing, ideal for woodwork or our favourite; hand painted kitchenunits, as featured in our blog on kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom bespoke furniture. Most of which are finished in Dulux Trade egg shell. If the surface has all ready been painted or primed then there is no need to undercoat the wood, just two coats of eggshell paint with a rubdown of emery paper in between coats and your finished.

Farrow and ball paint. Another very high quality paint, Farrow and Ball were the first paint company to produce all water based products to a very high standard. There emulsion paints are second to none, they will always match up perfectly if re-touching surfaces or repainting a room with the same colour. The exterior Farro and Ball paints are breathable paints which means they can be used on lime based plaster on period buildings, and they will not blister or flake off. Read more in our blog on breathable paints. Farrow and Ball paints for wood, are all water based suspensions; meaning that there is oil paint suspended in water, allowing for low odour quick drying paint with the toughness of an oil based paint. ingenious really!

Fired earth paint. Have a stunning range of colours in their various collections, with hard wearing washable emulsions suitable for all areas of your home. Fired earth paints have also mastered tough hard wearing Water based paints for wood work in gloss, satin and egg shell finishes with low odours so painting while you are home need not be a problem.

Purdy Paint Brushes. Forget about loosing hairs into your paint while painting with these Purdy paint brushes this does not happen. For an impeccable finish (in the right hands) nothing else compares to Purdy paint brushes, with various different hand crafted paint brushes you simply can’t go wrong, they cost more than hair shedding brushes but if you look after them they will last for years. The Impressions team uses no other paint brushes for finishing paintwork. Our work speaks for its self as well as for Purdy paint brushes.

While speaking of painters tools, we could not let any blog go with out blogging about the second most used painters tool other than the paint brush, which is the trusty 5 in one painters tool. As suspected it dose at least five tasks if not more from, screw driver to roller cleaner to paint tin opener sharp blade and many more. Perhaps you can guess a few. Good painters don’t go any were without their trusty 5 in one tool.

Zinsser primer sealer. This is a shellac based product. Which we use all the time. Not only is it a Primer and knotting agent for wood, but it can be used to prime any surface, and will stick to any surface without sanding, (although we believe for best results it is always better to sand down and clean surface before priming) Ideal for hand painted kitchen units. It is also highly eficent as a stain block for both water and ink. It can be used on the interior or exterior of your home.

Ronseal Furniture oil. For those of you with hard wood garden furniture, gates and even windows, this is a terrific product. Ronseal oil is very straight forward to use. Once you have done the right preparation,s to the wooden surface that is being oiled; then one follows the instructions on the tin. I find if you do saturation coats, as in, one saturates the wood with a generous coat of oil applied with a lint free cloth or brush, and then brush off and wipe off any access oil that has not been absorbed by the wood. once the oil is dry normally about six hours one repeats the process and then you are done.

High opacity obliterating emulsion with a low vinyl content specifically for new plasterwork. Easy to apply for a trade finish. Quick recoat times for a fast turnaround make this product a must for new plasterwork. A low vinyl content means its not suitable for constant cleaning or wet areas like kitchens & bathrooms. Up to 14m2 per litre per coat. Apply by brush or roller. Clean tools with warm water.

A very good range of products is the Krud cutter range, I have had direct experience with their degreaser extremely good for cleaning kitchens before repainting them. A must do if you want a good job. Im not sure how eco friendly they are so, always read the lable before use and always wear gloves and eye protection when using any heavy duty cleaning products.

The perfect paint job is all about good preparation, clean tools and a thorough clean up when the job is over. This range of products save you time and money by reducing the need for sanding gloss surfaces, restoring and preserving old paint brushes, rollers or spray guns and turning old paint into a safe, hardened compound.

Another great product for restoration and paint removal from window frames and doors is the Tungsten heavy duty scraper, in the hands of someone who knows how to use them, door frames can be stripped right back with one swipe of this scraper. Great stuff !

Dulux super grip primer is another great innovation in water based products. It provides good adhesion, For use on ceramic tiles, melamine, glass, anodised aluminium etc, Suitable for use inside and outside. We use it most for priming Kitchens before hand painting them . It is as good as shellac based primers any day, and unlike shellac you can wash your brush in water after use, the only think it dose not do is “knott” the timber, ( see painting fresh timber) Nice one Dulux!